Designed to implement the United States Army Air Corps concept of Strategic Bombing the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was the undisputed centerpiece of the U.S. air campaign in Europe during the Second World War. The four-engine heavy bomber carried an impressive
5,000 to 8,000 pound bomb load and an extensive defensive armament of up to 13 .50 caliber heavy machine guns. Intended to operate in conjunction with other Fortresses in massive formations, squadrons of B-17s took advantage of interlocking fields of fire
to drive off attacking enemy fighters while precision Norden bombsights dropped high explosive and incendiary bombs on strategic targets in the enemy heartland. Coupled with RAF Bomber Command in its night bombing campaign, USAAF heavy bomber daylight
strikes attempted to force Nazi Germany into surrender by crushing domestic industry, war production and the German people's will to resist.

Heavy fighting brought massive causalities among U.S. bomber crews making participation in the Combined Bomber
Offensive one of the most dangerous missions of WW2. By May of 1945, B-17s of the USAAF 8th and 15th Air Forces had delivered over 640,000 pounds of bombs onto enemy targets throughout Europe while B-17 gunners shot down more enemy fighters than any other
Allied aircraft of the war.

Manufactured in Long Beach, California the museum's B-17G serial number 44-6393 was accepted into USAAF service in July of 1944. The aircraft was initially assigned to the 15th Air Force arriving in the Mediterranean
Theater of Operations in August of that year. Documented primary source information indicates 44-6393 was acquired as a command transport for the Commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, Air Force legend General Ira Eaker, as a replacement for B-17E
"Yardbird" his prior command aircraft. At the time of the transfer, many of the defensive armaments were temporarily removed (including the turrets) and the aircraft received the name "Starduster" a designator it kept as General Eaker's personal transport
for the rest of the war. During its service, "Starduster" flew the General from Italy and North Africa to conferences and planning meetings in England, the Soviet Union and the continental United States.

After General Eaker's retirement in 1947, "Starduster"
was assigned as a VIP transport to various U.S. bases in the Far East and Canada. Serving until 1956, long after most B-17s hadleft the USAF inventory; 44-6393 was transferred to storage in Arizona and dropped from the USAF active inventory. In June
of 1956, it was transferred to the government of Bolivia where it served an additional 25 years as a cargo transport.

"Starduster" was reacquired by the USAF in January 1981 and flown to the United States for restoration and display at the March AFB
Museum. Returned by museum volunteers to its 1944 configuration and graced with General Eaker's "Starduster" nose art, 44-6393 remains on loan from the USAF to the March Field Air Museum.